Update #10

Hey everyone, Ryan here. Happy new year. The Arsenal team and I have been working around the clock to get Arsenal out the door and shipped. Here’s what we’ve been working on and where we are as of today.

Apple Certification

Arsenal uses Bluetooth classic as the normal method to connect to the phone. (Wifi is supported also, but it’s not ideal since you have to switch wifi networks). Apple requires all devices that connect to iOS using Bluetooth classic go through an extremely rigorous certification process. Apple will only test on production versions of a product, including packaging. Unfortunately, the delays we’ve experienced with our enclosure are pushing back our certification timeline and ultimately our ship date. Which leads me to…

Updated Timeline

I know you’re all excited to get Arsenal in your hands. We were originally hoping to ship Arsenal to our Kickstarter backers by the end of January. I’m very sorry to say we won’t be able to hit that date. We thought we had plenty of padding in our timeline to hit the January target. Unfortunately, some of the setbacks we hit in the last few weeks have blocked other parts of the process from moving forward. This is not an excuse, but I want you to know that if we could have gone faster we would have and I wanted to give transparency to the process/update.

Our new estimated ship date is early April. Unfortunately, the Apple certification isn’t something we have much control over, but we are doing everything we can to complete it and get Arsenal to you as fast as possible. I want to say I’m extremely sorry for the delay.

Sony A7Riii Support

We were able to get a hold of a Sony A7Riii last month and run it through the Arsenal test suite. Everything worked great, so we are adding it to the list of supported cameras. (It’s still hard to believe Sony got rid of their apps on new cameras. Hopefully Arsenal can fill in the gaps a bit.)

Enclosure

The injection mold tooling for the enclosure is almost complete. We’ve had a few minor changes to improve the flow as the plastic is injected. Thanks to Rubin for all of the hard work on this. The VIP/beta units will go out as soon as the new enclosures are ready.

Antenna Tuning

After doing some more controlled tests of the wifi/bluetooth connections, we decided to do a bit more work tuning the antenna. This involves renting some very expensive test equipment and setting parameters on the radio. The new parameters help improve the connection speed and range.

Logistics

We spent a lot of the last month working through some more logistics getting ready for the final production run and shipping. (supply chain management, acceptance testing, defect handling, taxes, etc…) This isn’t the most exciting thing, but it needs to happen.

Quality Control

Because Arsenal contains so many BGA components on our PCB, we can’t take advantage of testing methods you might use for products with a more open circuit board. We need all systems on each Arsenal to be well tested before it goes out the door. To make this happen, we’ve been working on a set of devices and software that can run functional tests over all of the boards systems and then flash the firmware (assuming the board passes). Making sure this process catches all issues, is fast, and is repeatable takes a lot of work. There’s been a lot of back and forth with our manufacturer in the past month as we make adjustments to ensure our rigs keep up as boards are coming off the line.

Machine Learning

The machine learning team has been making improvements to our depth mapping system. The depth mapper looks at a scene and estimates distances based on the frames pulled from the sensor. This data is fed into the main setting suggestions algorithm and helps better match settings to the current environment.

Software

The software team has been spending most of their time tracking down some last bugs. They have also been working on a refactor of the core device code. The refactor improves the abstraction between camera API’s, camera configurations (code specific to individual cameras), and the communication layer. When this refactor is complete, it will make it faster for us to add new features and new cameras. The team is doing a good job moving forward while also keeping on top of technical debt.

The dev team is wrapping up a few little things, then we’re going to put together a full demo video to show the app with the updated interface. Should be out in the next week or two.

Summary

The delay is unfortunate but we are as committed as ever to getting Arsenal to each of our backers as fast as possible. We’re going to use the extra time to continue to improve the quality control process, software, core technology, and product as a whole. We’re also going to start putting together some video tutorials and documentation to help everyone get up to speed with using Arsenal. It’s pretty simple to use, but we’ve had lots of requests for documentation, so we’ll get that ready before we ship.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted as we move through the final stages. Thanks to the Arsenal team for the long hours, travel, and going the extra mile. Thanks to all of our backers for their support and patience.

- Ryan

P.S. We’ve been so heads down on production the team hasn’t had much time lately to get out and take photos that aren’t for testing the system. (The snow on the ground hasn’t helped :-) Here’s some older shots we took with Arsenal.

Comments

Hi Ryan, now is going to reach September of 2018 but still no delivery of Arsenal camera assistant. I am very disappointed for supporting you as no news or email to inform me. Now please rush advise me when is delivering date and where is my Arsenal camera assistant.

Hi Ryan, now is going to reach May of 2018 but still no delivery of Arsenal camera assistant. I am very disappointed for supporting you as no news or email to inform me. Now please rush advise me when is delivering date if unable I need full refund as soon as possible.
Orathai Bh.

@Mark Delbridge Yes, we will request address changes shortly before we ship. For some reason, Crowdox won't let you change your own address, so you'll want to message me or e-mail help(at)witharsenal.com and we can take care of it for you. Thanks!

@Horst Wurf Tablet support is on the short list. We still have a few things we need to get through before we start on that. (It should go quick, but we need to get through a few more things before we start on tablet support) I think we'll be able to get it out sometime this summer. Thanks!

Hi Ryan,
I'm wondering if you'll be confirming shipping addresses again before it all happens? I'm moving countries. (I'm certain a bunch of people will have moved too). Thanks!
Still looking forward to it!

Hey @Juan Pronao The next update will go out Monday. (Sorry it's taking so long) tl;dr is we're on track for April delivery. I've also got a walk-through video of the app (that turned out way too detailed, but hopefully everyone will find it interesting) Thanks!

@RYAN CRISTOBAL Thanks! We're working hard to get them in everyone hands ASAP. Also, fyi, I've got another update almost ready to go out, just finishing one thing on it. (Hopefully it will go out tomorrow) tl;dr... We're on track for the April ship timeline. Thanks

i get everyone's side. as a backer, i just can't hardly wait to get my unit and start shooting with it, but at the same time i understand on the production side, all the i's must be dotted and all the t's must be crossed. it's about quality and functionality, as a backer i sure would like to receive my unit complete and ready once i un-box it. so, Ryan and Arsenal team, i'll let you get to working. #PatientlyWaiting

@Ralph Buisman Hey Ralph, sorry it's been a while since I updated. (We've been swamped getting the last things ready for production) I'm finishing up the last stuff on a demo video for the update. Hoping to have it out tomorrow. Sorry it's taking so long.

@Florian Priester There's an component on our PCB that we include with Arsenal that allows for authentication to iOS devices. It just responds to a "challenge auth" so the connection won't get rejected by the iOS device. (And so Apple can verify it's an approved device) Thanks!

Don't want to be a bummer, but why is the estimated delivery date pushed back a couple off times now and why didn't we get an email/update about it more often? We are the backers/buyers and without us this isn't happening at all and I'm started to wonder (and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one) that it isn't going to happen. In my oppinion this is just bad faith....

@Josh Justic The Apple certification requires adding a piece of Apple hardware to the design and we're not allowed to ship any units until we get approval. Unfortunately, doing a 2nd product for Android phones only would require some other testing, logistics, etc, and most likely wouldn't result in things getting out the door sooner. The Apple certification is the big thing we'll be waiting on. It gives us a bit more time to prepare for production. Really sorry about the delay. This is our fault, we should have had more padding in our schedule. If you would rather not wait, we can issue you a full refund.

The ol’ Apple certification process. Catches me off guard every time. Kickstarter should have a button that says “does your product work with Apple?” And then adds a year to the estimated ship date automatically.
Not that I don’t appreciate it! Their products work well. Just that product designers never estimate time accurately.

Hi,
As I worked in a startup several years ago, I understand your deadline explosion... the delay isn't a problem in fact. The real one is to provide the best device you can with the best quality in order to be significantly different and over the others. Otherwise all your efforts will certainly go in the water........

So, do your best and no stress about delay. The important thing is a revolutionnary device, a real one.

Thanks for your hard work and all the best for the incoming ones ! ;o)

@Arno Van Huyssteen Yea, we've got a bunch of Fuji cameras we want to work on getting supported. Unfortunately, we haven't had much time to focus on adding more cameras. Once we ship though, we will have more time to add more cameras. If you need X-T10 support now, we can issue a full refund. Thanks.

Thanks for the update. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that’s all we want. To be kept in the loop as much as you can December and January was torture knowing nothing. So please keep the updates coming and for the most part we’ll be happy 👍
Thanks